35 things before 35

Things to do in my 34th year

This is 34

Earlier this year, I shared one of my “33 things to do in my 33rd year” items, and people loved the concept.

While I didn’t cross off many things on my list for year 33, I still decided to make one for this year. So in honor of my birthday today, here’s my “35 Things to do Before 35” list.

• Learn a song on the piano

• Hike a 4k footer¹

• Grow flowers

• Have 12 friends over for dinner (at 12 different times)

• Shoot 12 rolls of medium format film

• Complete the “Restore your Core” program from Expecting & Empowered

• Write Weekly²

• Make a 2020 photo album

• Visit somewhere new

• Create a capsule wardrobe

• Save $3500³

• Have a “No Buy” month

• Finish the trim in three rooms⁴

• Complete a postpartum recovery program⁵

• Practice Sabbath 25 times⁶

• Celebrate seasonally⁷

• Sew something for myself

• Finish Wesley’s blanket

• Go on 12 dates with Adrian

• Take an Exhale workshop

• Read 60+ books

• Go on 12 “home-school” outings

• Quilt a blanket

• Hike 12 times

• Chase the light around the house

• Photograph a day in the life

• Finish Wesley’s “Year 2” album

• Walk the local rail trail

• Bake 12 special treats

• Make a 2023 photo album

• Write 12 letters

• Make a 2024 photo album

• Archive all medium-format film

• Make a 2025 photo album

• Go away for the weekend

I decided to prioritize more achievable things this year. They still help cultivate the life I want to live while also offering flexibility for this new season of life I’m entering.

So here’s to another year of living and to pursuing joy.

1. One of these.

2. Even if I never share what I write

3. Hopefully, we will save much more than that, but I want to save that money from my own business, not like collectively with my husband and his 9-5 job.

4. If you own a fixer-upper and you’re DIYing it, you know sometimes projects don’t get finished.

5. Probably tandem with the Expecting & Empowered app and my PT

6. Ideally it would be 52 but with wedding photography and life, getting back into the practice is the goal

7. Aka host a seasonal party either for the season or for a liturgical event